


Fog and Falling Stars

by autoeuphoric (FreezingRayne)



Series: Cyberpunk Freeverse [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate POVs, Backstory, Cyberpunk, Drabbles, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-01-19 02:44:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 5,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1452541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreezingRayne/pseuds/autoeuphoric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Compilation of drabbles from the cyberpunk Free! 'verse.  Pre-canon and alternate POV's for "Some of Us are Looking at the Stars".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Most of these drabbles I have posted on tumblr already, and I'll add chapters as I write more. If you have any requests/prompts, feel free to message them to me!

Nagisa, nsfw-ish

Requested by sly-milly on tumblr.

A combination of _apodyopis_ : the act of mentally undressing someone, and _gymnaphoria_ : the sensation that someone is mentally undressing you.

\---

Sometimes I forget that regular humans are so, so easy to mess with. 

Rei knows I’m watching him—he can feel it in shivers along his skin and in slow prickles up his spine, but whenever he glances around, I make sure to look away and back down to the dispatch on my tablet I’m pretending to study. Captain Sasabe wants us to memorize the five major shipping routes across Lorelie’s third quadrant before tomorrow, but with the way Rei is growing more and more frustrated—which means he’s getting that cute little line between his eyebrows—yeah right, fat chance of that happening. 

I drop the tablet down on the table and lean back in my chair. He’s on the other side of the rec room, playing cards with Haru, Seijuro, and Rin-Rin (who totally hates it when I call him that) and in my imagination, he folds and throws his hand down. Then he gets up and pushes his hair back out of his face, which is a little sweaty because it’s pretty warm in here. He looks straight at me, and I guess he decides it’s really warm in here, because he shrugs out of his Recon jacket and slides a hand up under his tank top to run his fingers over his abs (which are some of the best abs I’ve seen, and I have seen a lot of abs) before he pulls that off too.

The rest of the recruits in the rec room are watching him, whistling and urging him on, but Rei doesn’t look at them. He’s looking at me. 

There’s this certain smile he has, and I’ve only seen it a few times. When he’s just had a really good workout or when something so totally ridiculous happens that for a second he lets go of those straightlaced Elite sensibilities and just stops being polite and lets himself feel, and that’s how he’s smiling now, walking across the room to stand in front of me. 

I reach out to unbutton his pants, but he doesn’t let me—he catches my hands, makes me do it with my teeth. Then he gets his fingers in my hair and pushes me down on his cock (and I know it’s going to be a gorgeous cock, and I’ve seen a lot of cocks) and starts fucking my mouth, right there in front of the everyone and fuck—

Across the room, real-life Rei fumbles his cards and his shoulders tighten. This time, when he turns around, I don’t look away. I smirk. He blushes. 

I am so totally gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Rei, sfw

Requested by magicalprincedetective on tumblr.

 _Lalochezia_ : the use of abusive language to reduce stress or ease pain.

\--

I’m only a few feet up the climbing wall when I miss my grip and slide off, the short fall jarring my knees.

“Ow, holy shit!”  I shake my stinging fingers. 

“Aww.  What’s wrong, Ryugazaki?  You break a nail?” 

I grit my teeth.  “God dammit.”  I had, actually, and it hurt more than you would expect.

Nagisa’s looking down from where he’s halfway to the first marker.  “You okay?”

Captain Sasabe, unsurprisingly, isn’t done.  “What the hell are you two doing?  You girls better get going!  Oh—no offense, Matsuoka.”

Gou looks down from where she is already sitting perched on the platform at the top of the wall.  “None taken, Captain.”

I catch up to Nagisa, but most likely only because he lets me.  “You swear way more than you used to,” he says with a grin.    

I make a thoughtful noise, even as I wince and clench tight with my still-aching fingers.  “I guess you’re right.”

With the lexical augment gone, I have fallen into patterns of speech similar to my teammates—not exactly the sort of talk you’d hear at a state dinner.  It almost makes me want to call my father up, just to see the look on his face when I tell him the food here tastes like a mutant lab rat’s asshole, as Rin had so delicately put it the evening before. 

It may not have been the most inventive way to communicate, but hell if it did not make me feel better at times.  


	3. Chapter 3

Nagisa, sfw

Requested by sadpearonmars on tumblr. 

_Petrichor_ : the smell of rain on dry earth.

\--

The Garden is humid and scorching-bright, and if I don’t look up at the high glass dome, I can almost believe I’m outside.  I’m not supposed to leave the mansion—that’s one of the rules.  There have been a whole ass-load of those, ever since I woke up in a tank with no memory of who I was, with a perfectly detailed body full of brand new parts. 

_74% artificial_ , they said.  Silicone and metal and bioorganic tissue.   _We can’t tell you what you used to look like, or which parts are original, but don’t worry.  You volunteered for this._

Okay, yeah.  Just like the other 10 million Droids who went on the market this year.  I’m sure they volunteered for it too. 

But whatever.  I’m designed to be smart, which means I’m totally aware of what’s been done to me, but at the same time they made me cheerful, which means I don’t really mind. 

The Garden is so hot that I take off my clothes as soon as I get inside.  The trees are thick enough that no one will see me, and even if they do, they already know that the Master’s wind-up toy has been designed to be shameless. 

I grin as I hear thunder in the distance. I’ve come at the right time.  An artificial cloudburst in an artificial jungle for an artificial boy. 

When the rain hits the sun-baked earth, I breathe in deep, full of sense-memory that I don’t bother to dwell on.  It’s like struggling to hold on to emotions from a dream—they are illusions and they don’t last.  The raindrops on my face, the squish of the mud between my toes, that’s real.  Swimming in the pool downstairs, sprinting through the halls and getting yelled at by the housekeeper.  The addictive thrill of sex, the hot, full satisfaction of getting fucked.  That’s real.  That’s what I’m for. 

Wishing for anything else is delusional.  And my master built me too practical for delusions.  


	4. Chapter 4

Rin/Haru, sfw

requested by anon on tumblr

_Capernoited_ : slightly intoxicated or tipsy.

\--

The derelict watchtower on the south side of District 6 hasn’t been used since the Riots over a decade ago, and the elevator sticks about ten feet below the top landing, but this has never been a problem for Rin.  When he feels the tiny car grind to a screeching halt, he pushes the emergency hatch open and pulls himself through, grabbing hold of the cables to haul himself the rest of the way up. 

Haru is already here, sitting on the floor of the observation deck, bottle of something amber-gold sitting between his legs. 

“You started without me,” Rin says.  The metal floor clangs beneath his feet.

Haru rolls the bottle toward him.  “Catch up.”

Rin unscrews the cap and takes a sip.  It burns all the way down and he has to take a deep breath to keep from coughing.  He takes another sip, then another. 

“This tastes like shit.”  He tosses the bottle back and sits down next to Haru.

“No one’s making you drink it.”  Up close, Haru’s eyes are a soft, fuzzy blue, and when he leans toward Rin, his movements have a steadied intensity they lack when he’s sober.  His mouth tastes like the liquor, and Rin kisses him until it fades, until Haru makes a soft noise in his throat and straddles his thighs, tugging at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. 

The fireworks have started, but neither of them pull back to watch.  Revolution Day is a joke, an excuse for the Elites to party and sing the praises of a state that exists to enable their never-ending circle jerk.

They push against each other, panting, the heat still oppressive even this high up.  According to the news, it’s supposed to break by the end of the week, but that just means a downward slide toward winter.  Everything is worse in winter.

In his more unreasonable moments—or when he’s been drinking—Rin fools with the idea of leaving Sky City, checking out of the endless scramble for power in Lowland.  He’ll leave the streets, go somewhere without the ceaseless noise of traffic, without the stink of garbage and unwashed bodies.  Somewhere he can swim in the rivers without coming out radioactive. 

He wants to ask Haru to come with him, but he knows he’ll say yes, so he never has.  He’d have no excuses left, then.  


	5. Chapter 5

Rei, sfw

Inspired by Rei's great big yaoi hands. 

\--

I’m telling a story—about one of my mother’s parties where a guest’s malfunctioning lexical augment had forced him to scream obscenities at a floral arrangement—and waving my hands for emphasis.  Another Lowland habit that I have picked up during my time on the Platform.

“My mother’s face when he started to shout—.”

Gou grabs one of my wrists.  She typically loses interest in stories pretty quickly if she is not the one telling them.  “Holy shit.  Your hands are enormous.”  She looks at Nagisa.  “Have you seen his hands?”

Nagisa’s mouth turns up at the corners.  “Yeah.”

She holds her hand up against mine, pressing them palm to palm.  Compared to hers, my fingers are huge, spidering monsters.  “Why does that matter?” I ask, suddenly self-conscious. 

Gou cocks an eyebrow at me—her ‘can you believe this fucking Elite?’ face.

Nagisa leans across to press his own hand against my other one.  Their hands are nearly the same size, though his skin is significantly warmer.  “Ah, come on, Rei.  You know what they say about guys with big hands.”

Gou taps her chin.  “Big feet?” 

The two of them dissolve into giggles, and for a moment I am confused (I do have rather large feet as well) but then I catch on and my face abruptly heats.  I rub my cheek with one of my (huge) hands, and their eyes follow its progress.  I drop it into my lap, and they look down there as well, gazes narrowed and intense.  Finally I am forced to hide both of my hands behind my back, which only makes them laugh harder. 

I don’t even want to think about the jokes during hand-to-hand combat tomorrow morning.  


	6. Chapter 6

Nagisa POV, backstory, sfw

\--

The first time I see my own face, I don’t recognize it.

They’ve left me in a room I’ve never been to before, but there are comfortable chairs and a tank with a lot of white and orange fish to watch, so I’m totally fine on my own.  But then I happen to look up and see another boy watching me through a window on the other side of the room. 

I jump up and walk over.  The boy has wide golden eyes and a small button nose, glossy blond hair ruffled up like he’s been lying on a couch and watching fish all morning.  He’s around the same age they told me I’m supposed to be.

But then I smile and the boy smiles; I wave and so does he. 

By the time I reach the mirror I know what I’m looking at, and the smile disappears.  “That’s me,” I say, a small, pink mouth forming the words.  _My_ small, pink mouth. 

I know what that mouth is for.  Couldn’t they have made it a little _bigger?_

I step back and survey the rest of the boy, at the lines of hips and chest, the curve of his ass, the smooth dip of his shoulders.  One of the more mouthy orderlies, the one with the cold hands and bad breath, had told me repeatedly that I look perfect for fucking.  Now I can see why. 

There is a distant chime as the door on the far side of the room slides open, and I hear a voice in mid-sentence: “—sure you’ll be pleased with our work.  We’ve made him to your rather, forgive me, _exotic_ specifications.”

“For the amount I paid for him,” responds a voice that is smooth and deep enough to send a shiver across my skin, “You damn well better have.” 

I stand still and wait to meet my future owner, breath trembling in my chest.  The boy in the mirror waits with me.  


	7. Chapter 7

Rin/Haru, nsfw

Requested by callmeashura on tumblr;  _underwater_

\--

“We are going to get seriously busted for this,” says Rin.  “And I do _not_ want to spend every night this week guarding the armory against space rats.”

“There’s no such things as space rats.”

“Yeah, exactly.  That’s why guard duty is bullshit.”

Haru shrugs.  “Then let’s not get caught,” he says, before he jumps, arching his body into an effortless dive.  Rin follows after a second, because out of all the bad ideas Haru’s ever had, skinny-dipping in a Confederation pool is not even in the top ten. 

As soon as he’s in the water, Haru crowds him up against the side, pinning him to the cool stone and kissing his neck, taking hold of his cock and giving it a few quick strokes. 

“I think Gou’s figured it out,” Rin says, breath rattling in his chest as he fights to keep his voice steady.  “That we’re back—.”

Haru drifts beneath the surface, and the next moment Rin is twisting fingers in his hair, groaning as Haru swallows him down in one slow, wet slide.  

“Oh, fuck _.”_ Rin’s hips jerk, and he feels Haru’s throat working as he fights not to choke.  “ _Fuck,_ Haru.” 

Haru’s hands curl around his hips, and Rin’s pretty sure that any second he’s going to have to pull up, aquatic augment or no, but he doesn't, just keeps up the suction, the water making everything impossibly smooth, and in an embarrassingly short amount of time Rin is biting down on his hand to stifle his gasps, coming so hard he nearly slides underneath the surface

“ _Fuck,”_ Rin groans again, as Haru resurfaces, looking smug.  When Rin kisses him he tastes like spunk and chlorine, which is only slightly nastier than what the mess hall served for dinner earlier that evening. “You want me to do you?”

Haru rubs at his jaw.  “In a little,” he says, before pushing off the wall and striking out for the center of the pool.  Swimming first, sex later.


	8. Chapter 8

Nagisa, pre-canon, nsfw

\--

I know his name.

I hear people call him by it—suits, the doctor who comes in every so often to give me a checkup, the men and women he invites to his parties. I just call him _Master_ , which is what the technicians at the lab said to do. He seems to like it just fine, especially when it’s paired with, “Fuck me harder,” and “Oh, god, it’s so _big_.” 

My master likes a lot of things—I could make a list. He likes holding me down by the back of the neck and fucking me with hard snaps of his hips, he likes watching me swallow his cock, he likes making me choke on it. He likes to make me come using just his fingers, slowly, until I writhe and clutch at the sheets and beg. He _really_ likes it when I beg. 

He is very fit—he works out with a bunch of machines on the second floor. Sometimes, if I’m bored, I’ll use them too, but I don’t eat, and my body isn’t malleable like a human’s is, so there isn’t really much point. Unless I undergo extensive reconditioning, the way my body is now is basically how it’ll stay.

Apparently, the amount of money he paid for me is obscene. His guests gasp and swoon whenever they hear how much, fawn over me like I’m an expensive piece of art. Art they can fuck, if he lets them.


	9. Chapter 9

Rin/Haru, backstory, sfw

4 years ago in Sky City

\--

You don’t _have_ to run with the gangs in Lowland, but everyone knows that’s where the money is.

When they finally do end up down at one of the Konishi hangouts—a seedy club that smells like unlicensed liquor and burning metal from the Air Track that runs directly overhead—it’s Haru’s idea.  Thirteen years old with big, bottomless blue eyes and a chilly stare, he’s the reason none of the kids on the street ever fuck with the Matsuokas.  They know that Nanase freak lives with them. 

Rin doesn’t like the looks they get from the second they walk into the club, but Haru goes right up to the bar and knocks on the surface to get the bartender’s attention.

“Fuck off,” she says, without even looking up from her net-link. “We don’t serve milkshakes here, kid.” 

“We want work,” Haru says.

“There’s no work for runts.”

Storm clouds are gathering in Haru’s eyes.  Rin tugs on the back of his shirt.  “Let’s just go.”

“Don’t lie to the kid, Josa.”  A man in a cheesy white suit and even cheesier slicked back hair has swaggered up. He is drinking something dark and noxious-smelling, and he has a patchy black beard that looks like it’s trying to escape down his neck.  “There’s always opportunities for hardworking boys.”

Rin doesn’t like his smile, and he likes it even less when he strokes meaty fingers down Haru’s cheek.

“I got a job for you, sweetheart.  Two jobs, if your ass is as pretty as your mouth.”

The corners of Rin’s vision go red with rage, but before he can do anything at all, the man lets out a high-pitched squeak and snatches his hand back.

“Jesus fuck!”  He’s cradling his fingers, but Rin can still see the blood.  “You fucking bit me, you little bitch!  Wait until the Konishis hear about this—.”

Very casually, the bartender leans across the counter and punches him in the face.  The man ends up flat on his back on the sticky wooden floor. 

“What the fuck, Josa?” he wheezes. 

Rin and Haru watch, slightly awed, as she snaps her fingers at a bouncer. “The Konishis don’t give a shit about you or your problems.  Think about that next time you throw the name around.”  

She gives Haru a rag.  “For the blood on your teeth.”

He takes it, but he says, “I don’t need your help.”

“I know.  That’s why you got it.” Josa throws the dirty rag onto the floor and leans on the bar.  “So, what kind of work you boys looking for?”

           


	10. Chapter 10

Nagisa, backstroy, nsfw

D/S, orgasm denial

\---

My master likes the bathwater really hot, enough that the steam fogs the mirror and windows, even with vents on full. 

I’m in his lap, water up to my waist, and he’s kissing me when the call comes in—deep, wet kisses that almost leave me dizzy, and I have a hell of a lung capacity. 

He pulls back, brow furrowing in annoyance.  “Yes?”

A man’s voice starts going on about logistics—a problem they’ve run into while transferring some product, but I’m not paying attention, because my master’s just pushed two long fingers inside me.  I let out a soft moan, but from the look on his face, I know I’m meant to keep quiet. 

So I hold my gasps in, riding his fingers as he gives a few quick, curt orders, shaking as he hits the really good spot, everything winding tight inside me.  Usually he teases way more—light little touches that drive me nuts, but today he’s pressing deep and fast. 

_Almost there, almost there—_

The AI cuts the line off and my master looks back at me, as if he’s only just noticed he’s got a horny droid writhing in his lap.  “Don’t come,” he says. 

A soft whine escapes my throat and I freeze, body trembling. 

His eyes narrow.  “I didn’t say stop moving.  I just said don’t come.” 

“M-Master, please—.”

In response I get another finger and a tight pinchs to my nipple.  “Keep moving,” he says, voice layered with hot threat.  “Don’t come, and I’ll give you something nice to keep you amused while I’m out of town.”

So I don’t come, I just fuck myself on his fingers, gasping and shuddering when he starts to stroke me.

“Oh, god, Master,  _please—.”_ And just when I’m sure I’m going to disobey him and come whether I want to or not, he stops.  He lets go of my cock an pulls his fingers out of my ass, leaves me kneeling in the hot water, shaking and hard. 

“Good boy,” he murmurs, and pets the back of my neck. 


	11. Chapter 11

Rin/Haru, backstory, sfw

drug use

\---

Rin sucks on the joint until it catches, tip flaring red like a landing light.  He blows out smoke and says, “What?”

Haruka can tell he wants him to be scandalized.  It’s in the curl of his mouth, the practiced way he cups his hands around the lighter, like he’s done this a hundred times. 

Haruka plucks it from between his lips and considers it.  Even the smell of the smoke makes him feel lightheaded.

“Hey—!”  Rin tries to snatch it back.  Haruka holds it out of reach.

“What?  You stole it.  Now I’m stealing it from you.”  Haruka should call him out, call him an idiot.  You get caught sampling product, you don’t get let off with a stern warning, even if you’re only fourteen.

Instead, Haru takes a slow drag.  “Here.”  He leans in and presses his mouth to Rin’s, parting his lips and exhaling.  Rin is so surprised that he coughs, most of the smoke escaping to spiral up into the greasy morning air. 

“Haru, what the—“

Haruka drops the joint and stubs it out with his heel on the hot, sticky concrete.  This time when he kisses him, Rin doesn’t choke.  


	12. Chapter 12

Haru/Rin backstory, sfw, drug use

\---

The first time, they are both high.

Typically, Rin avoids the shit they sell like it’s radioactive canal water, but tonight the boss is spiking, which mean they’re all spiking. It’s been a good run so far. No one is dead and they got paid in drachma, which, unlike Confederation credit, can be used anywhere. Businesses that accept credit need to be hooked up to the Sky City mainframe, which means they have to be legit. Not many of those in this sector.

“Do mine?” Haru asks.

Rin takes the filmy square patch and slaps it onto the back of his neck. Haru’s eyes flicker closed and he takes a huge, chest-expanding breath. His fingers twitch like he’s typing on a datascreen, and then he slumps back against the couch.

“Good shit?” Rin asks. 

Before he can get an answer, someone says, “Find our for yourself,” and a big, meaty hand slaps a patch onto Rin’s neck. “Have a nice trip, kid.”

It occurs to Rin that he doesn’t even know what the cocktail is in this particular patch, before the whole room washes white and flies away. His insides writhe, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s more like he’s twisting into shapes his body always held the potential for, but never the opportunity.

Rin falls forward and his hand brushes something warm and solid. Haru. Haru’s here with him in this bright, infinite place. His whole body is glimmering like the scales of a fish.

"You’re shining,” Rin says.

He wants to touch shining Haru before he swims away. His skin is slick, and so is the soft heat of his mouth when Haru kisses him.

"Aw hell, if they’re gonna do that, I’m leaving.”

“Nasty Pit kids.”

The initial seismic rush of the high wears of quickly, and Rin remembers he’s in a rundown house on some moldy couch, getting fucked-up with a bunch of thugs. He also knows he’s kissing Haru.

He never wants to stop.


	13. Chapter 13

Gou POV, takes place between Chapters 15 and 16 of _Some of Us_.

\---

We’re in the rec room, passing around a bottle of bootleg whisky.  Usually we play cards or video games, but no one’s really in the mood right now.  Rei and Nagisa still haven’t come back from the med bay. 

“Matsuoka?” 

At first I don’t even look up.  There are two Matsuokas and I’m not usually the one people are interested in.  It takes a couple seconds and an elbow nudge from Makoto for me to remember that my brother isn’t here.

“Alright, alright.  What the hell—.”

It’s that medic chick—Dr. Amakata.

“Recruit Matsuoka, could I have a word?”

“Uh—.”  I realize I am still holding the illegal whisky and quickly put it behind my back.  I feel Makoto’s fingers as he takes it from me.  “Sure.  I mean, yes ma’am.”

I expect her to bring me to the med bay, or possibly up to the bridge for a reprimand (I’m not sure what I did but there has to be something) but she just walks a few steps ahead of me until we’re two halls away.            

_Where no one can hear you scream._

And yeah, I know a Confederation doctor is not about to shank me in a hallway, but you don’t just unlearn survival instincts in a couple months.

“I need your help,” she says quickly and quietly, pulling a small grey canister out of her lab coat.  “I need you to find Rei Ryugazaki and inject him with this.”

“Wait, _what?”_ I clench my hands before she can shove the canister into them.  No, not canister—injection gun.  I can see it now.  “Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s the only way to save his sanity.”  She shakes her head.  “I know I sound like I’m being dramatic, but I’m not.  There are people very close to Rei who want to hurt him, in order to help themselves.  This is the only way I know how to stop them.”

I cross my arms.  “You talking about Rei’s psycho parents?”

Amakata nods.  She holds out the injection gun, and after a couple seconds I take it.

“If this hurts Rei, I’ll—.”  Don’t say _I’ll fucking kill you_ to an officer.  “—I won’t forget it.”

It’s still a threat, and I’m holding my breath to see what she’ll do. 

She just nods and turns to go.  “I’ll be waiting in the med bay.”

Before she can get very far, I call out.  “Why me?”

She cocks her head.

“Why not Makoto?  He’s his berthmate.”

Amakata takes a moment to consider.  “Honestly, Matsuoka?”  She raises a hand to head height, middle finger on top of her forefinger, and I think _no fucking way._

“Because I think you seem like a bitch who can get shit done.”  A Lowland drawl creeps into her voice, and then she shows me the back of her hand, thumb pulled in, middle finger on forefinger, before turning on her fancy fucking heels and walking away. 

I sprint off for the second floor, trying to decide which is more unbelievable—that I’m about to inject my friend with some mystery substance, or that an Confederation military doctor just threw up a gang symbol. 

_What the fuck is going on?_


	14. Chapter 14

Wow, it's been awhile since I've added to this. Jeez.

_Makoto, pre-canon, sfw_

\--

 

Makoto hears the scream when he’s halfway round the building to check on the bread ovens. A woman’s voice, eloquent with anguish, melting down into bubbling sobs. He drops his basket and sprints for the front yard. A sleek red hovercar is pulled up to the house next door, incongruous in a neighborhood that hasn’t changed much since the Dissolution. A man with slicked-back hair and an opaque eye augment stands beside it.

The South Hill district is too far out for the gangs to show it much interest, but Makoto knows an enforcer when he sees one.

A man’s voice has joined the woman’s, pleading, subsumed with the unmistakable swish of a laser pistol. The woman’s shouts crest in volume, before hers go quiet as well.

The tips of Makoto’s fingers tingle and parts of his body feel hollow—stomach, throat, the space in his head that’s usually used for thinking. Who had his neighbors been? He’d barely even spoken to them.

The dented front door flies open and a fiery-haired boy falls out of it, stumbling against the side of the house. His body gives one enormous heave and he vomits onto the cement. The man with the mirrored eyes groans in disgust, calls him a number of unflattering names, and disappears into the house. The red-haired boy curls in on himself, shuddering against the grimy brick. He can’t be any older than twelve.

Makoto finds himself back inside the bakery, numbly filling a glass with water. The cloying smell of melting sugar and cinnamon makes him feel like he might be sick as well.

The first boy has been joined by another, dark-haired and sharp-featured with large blue eyes that make Makoto feel uncomfortably transparent. He has one hand on the first boy’s back, more protective than comforting.

Silently, Makoto offers the water.

“Who the fuck are you?” the first boy asks hoarsely, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Makoto points. “I live next door.” That isn’t an answer to the question he asked, but it’s all that comes out.

The blue-eyed boy takes the water and sniffs at it. He holds it for his friend to gulp down, and he hands the glass back. “Go inside. Don’t come out until we’re gone. Don't let your customers come out.”

The last part he doesn’t have to say, but he does anyway: “It isn’t safe.”


	15. Chapter 15

_Nagisa pov, nsfw-ish_

 

_\--_

Rei’s blush is the brightest thing in the hallway. “N-Nagisa! What are you _doing?”_

I flutter innocent curiosity. “Walking?”

“You—what—Nagisa!” Rei splutters on my name. “Where are your _pants_?”

Next to me, Gou flaps a pair of white and blue training pants in the air. “Right here.”

“Gou spilled whisky on me. I told her she has to wash them or I’ll tell Captain Sasabe she’s buying liquor off that Spacer from Ithaca.” I can’t remember his name, but I definitely knew it at some point. You have to know someone’s name in order to moan it. Or maybe I just made a name up. Whatever.

Of course, all that was pre-Rei.

While he’s still processing my public nudity, eyes crossed like he’s been hit in the side of the head with a hyperball, Gou slings my pants back over her shoulder.

“You’re an asshole.”

“And you’re drunk.”

“Hey, fuck you,” she says cheerily, taking off down the hall. The laundry is in the other direction, but she’ll find it eventually. Maybe.

I grab Rei’s hand and yank him down a dim intersecting hallway. Nothing back here but vents and a supply hatch that looks rusted shut.

Nagisa—!”

“Shhh.” I lean up on tip-toes and kiss his nose. Then his chin and the side of his mouth. “C’mon, Rei, kiss me—.” I palm him through his sweatpants.

He groans, grabbing me by the front of my jacket and crushes our mouths together, sloppy, teeth knocking. I stumble back against the chilly metal wall.

“Sorry!” He pulls away and wipes his mouth, embarrassed, like he thinks one bad kiss is going to ruin everything.

I take his hands and very deliberately put them on my butt. He flushes darker, cheeks hot when I touch them. “Kiss me, Rei,” I say again, quieter this time. And he does.


End file.
